AT ONE OF OUR "REVIEW" HEARINGS just this past November ((?) I'll check to be sure), Mr. Natan was on his honeymoon and David Alspach represented the agency and we went in front of Judge Gorby! We thought it was not fair that we had already spent over 6 hours in court w/Judge Hoberg along w/Mr.Natan! The whole system is a joke and if you don't have thousands of dollars to get real representation, you're at their mercy!

The funny thing is Dave Natan used to be a court appointed attorney to represent parents in CYA cases when all of a sudden one day he dropped all of his clients to represent CYA. These are the very people he was fighting days before. Can we say conflict of interest. As for Dave Alspch and Judge Gorby they share a brain. This was the most corrupt agency I have ever seen in my life. Do they ever give anyones kids back? They take alot of them for stupid reasons too.

Daisy

I will give a nod for Huge conflict of interest!

We looked into how many children were returned to their parents in past years. In 2006, 295 that were removed from their homes 84 were allowed back home. In 2005, more than half went home. In all, the agency investigated 652 cases of suspected child abuse last year. 119 of them were eventually considered to be proven, or about 18%. Those numbers are on track with other counties in Pennsylvania
THE ABOVE IS FROM CBS21. THESE ARE VERY, VERY SAD STATISTICS!

LETTER TO EDITOR

http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/217436
Children & Youth should face disciplinary action

Lancaster New Era

Published: Feb 29, 2008

Editor, New Era:

What kind of police state do we live in?

The article by Janet Kelley regarding Patricia Shope, the woman who took her child to the hospital only to have the child removed from her custody and was threatened with adopting out the child, raises many issues: abuse of authority, terroristic threats, denying due process, interfering with parental care, to name a few.

The County Commissioners can claim that the county has admitted no wrong doing all they want, but the allegations violate the very essence of the American system of justice and the commissioners must investigate the Children and Youth Agency.

Those responsible should face disciplinary action and if this is more than one isolated incident, heads should roll. The agency has a responsibility to protect children from abuse, but they must act responsibly and respect the sanctity of parental rights.
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Had the mother not taken her child to the hospital, she would also have been subject to action for child neglect.

When bureaucrats are in a position to act against an individual, no matter which action they choose, we are all in danger. The system must be changed to limit the role of the agency.

Commissioners, do your job and protect the citizens of Lancaster County against the tyranny of out-of-control bureaucrats.

T.D